Catching Butterflies
by otakusocial
Summary: There was a start to all romances. In fairy tales, it started with damsels in distress on a land far far away. His started in a park, with a troubled girl catching butterflies. FemNaru
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary: There was a start to all romances. In fairy tales, it started with damsels in distress on a land far far away. His started in a park, with a troubled girl catching butterflies.

* * *

**Catching Butterflies**

**one**

It was a perfect day. The wind was calm, the sky was littered with a few clouds that didn't obstruct the sun's rays. The grass beneath him was soft and the earth was cool on his back. The tree close to him provided enough shadow to shelter his eyes from the sun, so he could enjoy the day peacefully.

Lazily.

There was rustling.

Heavy footsteps sent vibrations through the ground.

Shikamaru hoped it was a stranger. A stranger would leave him alone or ask a simple question before going their merry way—like directions if they were lost.

A shadow loomed over him.

It wasn't a stranger.

"You're in my class right?" she leaned over him, a bright smile on her face, and her blonde hair tickling his nose. "Shikamaru, isn't it?"

"Naru." Shikamaru saw the smile broaden on her petite face that seemed to split it in half. "What brings you here?"

"I was out exploring, seeing what else Konoha has to offer... but—" there was a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

Oh no. No, no, no. In all his years in life, "but" never preceded anything good—at least for him— and this "but" definitely meant trouble. Anything with Naru Uzumaki was trouble.

"—seeing as you are here, it would be great to hang—"

He nipped it in the bud. "No, I want some time by myself today." Shikamaru saw her smile falter.

No.

"Oh that's fine." Naru laughed it off, drawing her hands behind her as she leaned away from him.

Ignore it. He was going to ignore it.

"I had things to do anyway." Naru turned away, flashing him another smile before she did so.

But he couldn't. He couldn't miss it.

He saw her hands clench in a fist before she pathetically made an attempt to hide it from him.

He heard the way her laugh quivered at the beginning before she obnoxiously forced it out.

And when she turned to him, to give him that pathetic attempt of a smile, he noticed her eyes were drowning in tears.

Shikamaru could have lived without knowing all that. In fact, he wanted to lecture her about how to save face; don't say anything, turn and leave the offender alone. But no. She had to be nice. He didn't want nice if she was just going to have him feel like crap.

Why was he even caring anyway? This was a girl he barely knew, he barely spoke to her in class, and technically this was the first time they even spoke to each other—and yet here he was feeling guilty for hurting her feelings. Why should he care?

But as he watched her walk away slowly, he noticed her shoulders shake.

She was crying.

Shikamaru knew he was going to regret this. "Wait." Naru stopped walking but didn't turn around. "You can stay, I wouldn't mind it if you stayed."

It took a while for her to answer, and Shikamaru didn't realize he was holding his breath until she replied.

"I don't want to be a bother." Her voice was soft and slow, probably trying to hide the fact she was crying. Which was a complete fail, because he noticed the strain she put in each word, trying to keep it controlled.

You are already a bother. "As long as you aren't loud, it would be okay."

"Okay." She turned to him with a huge smile on her face, drawing her arms behind her, cradling her head as she usually does.

It was subtle—but he noticed that he used that move to wipe her tears away.

Shikamaru just watched her as she settled herself beside him, looking at the sky after giving him a wide smile.

But he wasn't going to go there.

"So you were cloud watching?" Naru's voice was a mere whisper.

He wasn't going to ask questions. "Yeah."

She was biting her bottom lip as she observed the sky above her. "That one looks like a snake."

But he had to.

He couldn't help it.

Naru turned blue eyes at him again, but this time didn't say anything.

He had to know why.

Why a girl that was known to not know the meaning of "staying still" was there lying on the ground beside him watching clouds.

Why a girl that didn't need a megaphone, was speaking so low the wind could drown it out.

Why, for the past half hour they were watching clouds, she was frequently looking at him like he was going to disappear.

What was the use of being a genius if all he wanted to solve was this girl beside him. Shikamaru gestured vaguely towards the sky. "That one looks like you."

Naru turned her whole attention towards the sky.

That should keep her busy for a while.

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A/N: I fell in love with this pairing. So I gave it a shot.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Catching Butterflies**

two

Troublesome.

It was a mantra that Shikamaru continuously had running through his mind as he walked on the worn path of the forest, brushing away stray branches along the way to the clearing. The whole trip could be one big waste of time, and Shikamaru would end up smacking himself in the face for even making this trek. He didn't even make plans to go to the clearing today...

But he had a hypothesis.

It was nagging in his mind since the moment he left yesterday, and it festered, and it encompassed his whole mind and it stuck there. And there was nothing more he wanted to do than just stay home today and lounge on the roof, trying to escape his mother. But it nagged incessantly. So he found himself walking to the clearing, needing to know the answer to his hypothesis.

He wanted to bet against himself.

He didn't want to be right—

Blonde hair swayed with the wind

—because the answer was just too pitiful.

The blonde was exactly where he left her yesterday, lounging underneath the aged tree—he was afraid to ask, but it seemed like she hadn't left the spot.

Either way, if she had gone home or not was inconsequential. The only thing that mattered was the fact that she was even there to begin with. There were no plans. No set time. He regretted it, but when he left her yesterday, he didn't even acknowledge her parting words.

Yet here she was.

Possibly having not gone home, or had come back and waited for him like an idiot, not knowing if he would show up or not.

He drew closer to her, and noticed that Naru was sleeping on the soft grass, her hair tangling in the wind, as it seemed to have loosened from her pony tail. She looked so peaceful...

And pitiful.

Shikamaru couldn't help the anger that boiled irrationally inside him. Watching her there, just sleeping on the dirt, even in her sleep she was hopeful and hopeless. He was tempted to wake her, and tell her how stupid she was, that she could do so much better with others as her friends if she was so damn

lonely.

He wasn't the answer to human companionship. If she had two brain cells she should know that he was definitely not compatible with her—he basically treated her like crap yesterday, and disrespected her and practically oozed with pity for her. She deserved someone better.

But that's just it.

Her sleeping there waiting for him gave him the worst possible fact: There was no one else.

And as Shikamaru watched her wake up, her whole face brightening; her blue eyes practically dilating trying to take him all in; and that grateful and relieved smile that stretched her lips—it just made him feel like shit.

"Shikamaru!"

Don't sound too happy to see me. "Naru." Shikamaru sat beside her.

"I'm glad that we got to meet again." Naru tucked her hair in a loose bun as she continued to smile at him.

She should really stop that.

There was nothing to smile about. Because he didn't deserve it. "Do you usually come by here?"

"Sometimes. There is a lake just a few ways from here. I like to spend time there but..." she seemed to think on her words, an embarrassed flush lightly tinting her face. "Thought this was a good spot for today."

He didn't have anything to say to that.

He knew why she was here.

It was safer to leave it at that.

"What do you have planned for yourself today?" Naru drew some blades of grass, and released them through the wind. It was a simple act, and for anyone it could have been just that. But Shikamaru had to analyze—it could be glaringly wrong or right, but he saw that as her way to let out some anxiety. A method to stop herself from asking what she really wanted to say.

If there was an 'us'.

If there was plan he had for them together.

Naru let the wind carry it away.

And in all honesty, if he wasn't so observant; if he wasn't so attuned to her emotions; if he wasn't so conscious about her; if he didn't have a conscience, and was just an aloof bastard that he knew he could be—there really wouldn't be an 'us'.

But he was everything like that.

"Let's go see that lake of yours." Shikamaru dusted off his pants, Naru following him with that ever present smile of hers.

"You'll love it. It's very peaceful." Naru led the way, setting a pace that matched his lazy strides. "And if you follow it just to the east, there is this really cool waterfall, I just sit beside it at times and just watch the rainbow—"

Naru needed someone better.

"—or would it be called a waterfallbow?" she giggled at that, and Shikamaru joined in her amusement with a quirk of his lips, which seemed to appease her.

Shikamaru knew that she needed someone better.

Someone not him.

She deserved someone that would value this friendship.

Someone that sees her as more than a project.

Damn. He could be a bastard at times.

"We can call it a waterbow...waterfallbow is too wordy." Shikamaru decided after much thought. If she only got him for a companion, he will try his best to be that for her.

Till he found someone better.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Catching Butterflies**

**three  
**

When Shikamaru woke up, he had known that the day at the academy would be troublesome. With his new friendship with Naru, there was definitely going to be more excitement at the academy for him—especially considering the track record that Naru had since she was admitted to the school.

So it was to his great surprise that the blonde had not been there to hound him when he walked through the gate of the academy.

At first he thought it was because she didn't see him. But that idea was completely blown out the window when, even though the blonde didn't have any eye contact with him at all, seemed to walk away when he got near.

It was puzzling.

Her actions completely went against the conclusions he had drawn up during the weekend. He had figured that Naru would not leave him alone at the academy, seeing he was her first friend. But seeing her move further away from him, and sitting far from him, he figured that their friendship was just temporary. Probably just a girl bored and having nothing better to do during the weekend, and just chose to bother him.

He was lying through his teeth.

Playing blind to the signs around him.

He wanted an out.

So he played along.

The first day at the academy, he didn't bother with Naru and chose to stick with his own set of friends. Going through the same routine of eating lunch with them, napping with Chouji after he finished with his snacks, and pretending to listen to Ino as she spoke about the Uchiha.

He ignored the blonde girl who had her back turned to him.

The second day, he slept through the class, ate lunch at the cafeteria with Chouji, and sat beside the window to watch the clouds during the last period of the academy.

He ignored the blue eyes that kept glancing at him.

The third day, he used his friends as a shield, pretending they called for him during lunch, so he could walk away from her approach. He instigated a conversation with Ino about the Uchiha to occupy all his attention, so she would hesitate to approach him. He invited himself over to Chouji's house so she wouldn't follow him after class.

He pretended to not see her watching him walk away.

The fourth day, he ran away. Before the academy bells rang, and once the parents left the academy grounds, Shikamaru joined Kiba in ditching class.

He pretended to not see Naru follow them out the academy walls.

He pretended to not hear her call out for him, and the tremble in her voice.

She was such a crybaby.

He was relieved when she didn't follow them any further.

The fifth day, Naru sat far away from him. Shikamaru briefly glanced at her, and figured she may have finally caught on. So he continued with his routine. When taijutsu practice came along, he noted that Naruto favored her right side. During lunch, he enjoyed some time watching the clouds pass lazily through the sky, absently noting that Naru had trouble eating her lunch, with the sleeves being in the way.

During teacher Umino's class, Shikamaru's curiosity was peaked when the young teacher took Naru out of the classroom and told everyone to read chapters until he came back. The day would have ended well for him, but the rumor started.

"Did you see all those bandages on Naru?" one of the girls the row in front of him asked her seat-mate. "What do you think happened?"

The other girl just snorted. "Well from what I know from my mom, that girl is a troublemaker, she must have just got punished for being a pest."

"She must have done something pretty horrible then, from the looks of her."

"Well they do say she's nothing but a little demon."

Shikamaru couldn't shake the sinking feeling in his gut. A cold blanket seeping through his body as guilt overtook him as he thought of the day before.

He needed to see her.

He needed to talk to her and ask what happened.

He needed to know that he wasn't the cause of this.

But the teacher came back alone.

And he didn't tell anyone where Naru was.

Shikamaru arrived home late after a fruitless search of Naru. He didn't sleep well that night.

On the sixth day, Shikamaru took a chance and walked the familiar path towards the waterfall. It was her sanctuary. He didn't think he had any right to head over there after what he put her through. If she was there and he showed up, he knew she would take it the wrong way. That she wouldn't see the fact that his presence was all based on selfishness—that he was there for himself, and his need to be reassured that her injuries were not caused by him.

And there she was, her back turned to him as she washed her clothes in the water.

They were bloody.

"When did you get hurt?" it as a whisper, but she heard him—her body stiff.

Shikamaru stood there with bated breath, waiting for her answer. He thought that she would just ignore him, or just tell him to fuck off.

He deserved both.

But she had turned to him, the stare of those blue eyes apprehensive—but that quickly disappeared and she was back to smiling. "I'm fine Shikamaru. This is just paint I'm washing off."

He was sick of the lies.

"The teacher took you to the nurse's office and some girls in class we're talking about you getting attacked as punishment."

He was sick of her lying to herself, and to him.

He wanted her to tell him the truth.

That he was an asshole.

That he was a horrible friend.

Because he made her cry, made her feel alone, and had ignored her cry for help.

"I heard you call for me...back when we were ditching school...was it then?" he knew it was his fault. He wanted her to admit it and cut ties.

She deserved better.

"It's not your fault."

Shikamaru wanted to yell at her, and shove some sense into that brain of hers.

"What happened that day is nothing new. I should have known not to follow you out of the academy." Naru whispered, her eyes downcast.

He didn't understand.

"People just don't seem to like me...I don't know what it's about, but I knew I had to keep you out of it."

So she ignored him.

"But... You were my first friend, it was difficult and I almost put you in danger by trying to get close."

She was worried about him. Did everything for his safety and he had used it as a way out.

"I'm sorry." Naru whispered, fat tears were running down her cheeks. Face all flushed with such anguish...

He was a schmuck.

He was lower than scum.

But all he could do was get angry. So he yelled at the stupid girl that couldn't see it. "You shouldn't be saying sorry, you idiot!"

He marched towards her so they were face to face. She looked more pathetic up close. "I was the one who didn't do anything. I'm the one who failed you. You should never have to say sorry to me. I would hate you if you ever say sorry to me again."

Shikamaru saw a fading bruise on the side of her neck. "You stick close to me. I wont have you be attacked again."

He gripped her shoulders to shake her when all he got was a befuddled stare. She was so small and so stupid—she needed all the help she can get. "Do you understand?"

All she did was cry and hug him tight.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Catching Butterflies**

four

Day 50.

50 days of babysitting Naru—which he would never confess to her or even say out loud in real life. Shikamaru suppressed the urge to smack himself in the head, and just opted to tilt his head back and watch the sky, instead of the girl who looked at him like he was the next hokage; smiling at him like she was really happy having him there with her.

If she knew that he felt this way—

He would take it to his grave.

In all honesty, it hasn't all been awful.

Naru tended to want to do the things that he did, which pleased Shikamaru just fine. In fact, he had come to the point where he just does what he wants to do and Naru would just be there happy to go along with anything.

It had been 50 days of that.

50 days of his selfishness.

50 days of it gnawing at the back of his head.

It didn't help that Naru was always so happy, so damn grateful to just do things with him—it was to the point sickening.

He wasn't stupid.

Their friendship was messed up to begin with, and it was something that he was going to change but she made it too damn hard.

She chooses to do the things he wanted to do.

Even with all his insistence and assurances—short from smacking her in the face and saying "Woman, go crazy and do whatever the fuck you want and I swear I'll do it too."—that he would be happy to do it.

Naru chose to pick flowers, at the same field they spent every day of their new relationship that their body had left an impression on the ground, that Shikamaru could sit in comfort for hours at a time.

So here he was.

In his same routine of looking at the sky.

Naru making crowns out of the flowers from the field. Her blonde hair already filled with them after she had fixed it into a long thick braid. She occasionally flicked her hair from side to side over her shoulders giggling once in a while when the petals left a trail as she swung. And frequently she would look at him and flash him a grin before returning to her lonely game.

She was so simple.

Too nice.

Content with almost nothing.

She made it too easy for him to call her an idiot, and when she just stupidly nods, it makes him want to smack her in the face so she would get mad.

Which he should.

She practically makes him forget that she had any right to want anything, that he ends up being a shmuck with all her good little girl attitude of accepting it.

But who would want to fight a kitten?

He had seen her defeated.

He had seen her cry.

He'd seen it all and he wished he didn't so he could ignore it.

It was a heavy job...trying to make her happy.

"Shikamaru." Naru looked ridiculous with her eyes wide open, straining to see at the top of her head. Bright blue eyes looked at him in amazement. "Do you see it? Is it on me?"

He didn't hesitate.

"You've got a crown of butterflies." Shikamaru watched her glow.

She was so happy that she stayed still for a while, with that stupid twinkle in her eye and that ridiculous smile that Shikamaru could count her teeth and see her gums.

It was cruel.

He could never win.

When he tries to be good, it bites him in the ass with guilt.

Shikamaru lied.


End file.
